Greed fuels kidnappings in badlands of the south

Lindsay Murdoch

WHEN the charismatic Islamic scholar Abdurajak Janjalani returned to the Philippines from the Middle East in 1990, he established an underground organisation to push for an independent Muslim state in the south of the country.

It is widely believed he had the financial backing of Osama bin Laden, who was then heading a fledgling al-Qaeda network in Saudi Arabia.

Under the name Abu Sayyaf, or ''Father Sayyaf'', a tribute to the Afghan fighter, Abdul Rab Sayyaf, Janjalani's organisation did charitable work, such as building orphanages and schools with money believed to have come from al-Qaeda affiliates. It also fought the Catholic-dominated Philippine state, an expert on terrorist organisations in the southern Philippines, Bob East, said.

But when Janjalani was killed in a firefight with Philippine soldiers in 1998, the organisation's surviving militants succumbed to greed, turning into ruthless criminals whose business became mainly kidnap for ransom.

Abu Sayyaf and several other gangs operating in the mineral-rich Mindanao region of the southern Philippines have kidnapped hundreds of victims over more than a decade and are still holding at least nine, including the former Sydney man Warren Rodwell, whose latest proof-of-life picture shows him holding a newspaper dated January 25.

Officials say the kidnappers have expanded from targeting wealthy Filipinos and foreigners to ordinary people, some impoverished. Those who cannot pay ransoms as low as the equivalent of $50 are beheaded.

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They say Abu Sayyaf uses its ransom money to buy weapons and fund terrorism while sending some money to al-Qaeda and its affiliates, including Jemaah Islamiyah, the group responsible for the Bali bombings.

It has been more than two years since the Japanese treasure hunter Katayama Mamaito was abducted on the island of Pangutaran in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

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Police say Katayama, 66, is alive, but there have been no efforts from the Philippine or Japanese governments to rescue him. He was last seen cooking food for his kidnappers and had freedom to move around their camps, according to provincial police chief, Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra.

The Jordanian journalist Baker Atyani, 43, and two Filipino assistants, Rolando Letrero, 22, and Ramelito Vela, 39, have been held since they went to Sulu province in June to secretly film Abu Sayyaf for a documentary on al-Arabiya News Channel.

Atyani had travelled previously to the province in secrecy to interview terrorist leaders and he famously interviewed bin Laden before the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Wildlife photographers Ewold Horn, 52, from Holland, and Lorenzo Vinciguerre, 47, from Switzerland, were kidnapped in February 2012 and are believed to be in captivity on the island province of Tawi-Tawi. They were allegedly seized by militants operating under the banner of the Moro National Liberation Front, the country's largest militant Muslim group.

Other kidnappers are holding a Malaysian fish trader, Pang Choon Pong, who was seized in October 2011 in Tawi-Tawi.

And last November Malaysian authorities said two Malaysian men were seized by five gunmen disguised as policemen from a palm oil plantation in Sabah near the Philippine border. Their companions said the gunmen spoke in a dialect common in the southern Philippines.

Superintendent Freyra said the kidnappers were highly mobile and frequently changed their hideouts to avoid detection.

''We have people on the ground monitoring developments and feeding us intelligence,'' he said.